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Monday, 9 May 2016

We have previously reported on Swift nest boxes installed in the Cambridge Premier Inn. This was just one of a number of installations in Premier Inn Hotels. Seldom does such a project achieve such a high profile as a visit by the Home Secretary herself to switch on the attraction calls, but this is what Jan Stannard achieved in Maidenhead. AfS played its part by advising on the configuration of the boxes within the structure of the building. The following is the official press release, illuminated by a few pictures from the day

·The Home Secretary opens 20 new swift nest
places which have been built into the structure of the new Premier Inn site in
Maidenhead

·Maidenhead and Cookham now holds the UK record
for the most swift nesting places created in one year

Maidenhead, 6th
May 2016 – The Home Secretary Rt. Hon Theresa May MP has today opened 20
new nesting places for swifts at the Premier Inn site in Maidenhead. The new
hotel opened its doors to the public in November last year, and the nesting
boxes were built in to the roof during construction.

Swifts visit the UK in the summer months to nest and breed,
but local surveys suggest that their numbers have fallen by 50% in the past 20
years. Their nesting sites have steadily disappeared as roofs are refurbished
and old buildings are knocked down.

To combat this decline Jan Stannard, a Maidenhead resident,
formed the Maidenhead, Marlow and Cookham Swift Group in June 2015. Since then,
200 new swift nesting places have been created in local houses and churches to
provide a home for breeding swifts in the area.

To support the Swift Group’s campaign, Maidenhead Premier
Inn agreed to lodge 20 new nesting places in the roof of the hotel. In a first
for Premier Inn swift boxes, one of the boxes has been fitted with a caller to
mimic the call of a swift in an effort to encourage breeding pairs to use these
new sites.

Ben Brakes, Premier Inn sustainability manager

Ben Brakes, Premier
Inn Sustainability Manager, said:

‘Swifts are an iconic UK bird. Their arrival in our skies
signifies the start of summer and the startlingly decline in their numbers is a
real cause for concern. When Jan approached us there was a clear opportunity to
build the nesting places into the new site. Hopefully our Premier Inn Maidenhead
will house generations of swifts as they breed and raise their young.’

The Home Secretary, Theresa May

Rt Hon Theresa May
MP, Home Secretary and Member of Parliament for Maidenhead, said:

‘I’m grateful to Maidenhead Premier Inn and the Swift Group
for working together on this initiative. It is important that new buildings are
developed with the natural environment in mind, and this is an excellent
example of how this can work in practice. I hope this will be successful in
supporting the swift population and reversing the decline in numbers that has
been witnessed recently.’

‘I have nothing but praise for Premier Inn and Whitbread,
whose response has been exemplary. From my first phone call highlighting the
issue, the team and their building contractors worked positively and quickly to
make the project happen. Now we hope that more localities will be able to work
with them to give swifts the support they need around the country.’

Szczecin International Swift Seminars - April 6th-9th 2016

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Maps of Swift Observations 2013 - see the spring migration as it happens!

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